After months of negotiations, the sale of Cryptologic has been finalized. The buyer is Amaya Gaming Group at a price of $35.8 million, approximately 55% over the closing price of Cryptologic’s shares on December 14th.
Cryptologic Limited was an Ireland-based software service provider that has been in business since 1995. They’ve developed casino and poker software for a number of sites. Their first licensee was InterCasino in 1996. They provided software and a network for a number of different poker sites.
In the early years of the online poker boom, the Cryptologic network was quite successful. They had a number of sites on the network including WilliamHill, InterPoker, SunPoker and even Hugh Hefner’s own foray into the online gaming industry, PlayBoy Poker. In recent years the traffic on the Crypto network dwindled and all of the various poker rooms moved to new homes. Most of them now reside on the iPoker network.
The purchasing company, Amaya Gaming Group, is a Canadian-based operation that provides a well-rounded approach to the online gaming industry. As part of their mission statement, they claim that they “provide gaming solutions to governments in the areas of integrity software, taxation, regulation, lottery and online gaming.” They are committed to providing legal methods of gambling and entertainment to the public.
Amaya has been very inventive in the industry, and is always looking for new avenues to develop. Recent projects have involved specialized hardware, such as with their “Insync tables” and their “Mosino all-in-one room entertainment systems.” Another interesting project of theirs is the SMS lottery. They offer three types of electronic lottery tickets (Instant, Self-pick and Scheduled) available for purchase through any mobile device capable of sending an SMS text message.
With products like these, it is obvious that Amaya is truly committed to providing unique products for the ever changing gaming and entertainment market. We will surely hear more about them in the future.